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CU Guru [1955]
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The big buzzword: Culture
Aug 25, 2019, 4:22 AM
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It was around a little before - but I attribute the current widespread use of "culture" to Dabo. It's on everyone's lips now from coaches to players to media people - to T-shirts.
Everybody now wants in on CU's formula for success. Not just a school, team, facility, work ethic or whatever, but a complete culture that develops success & shapes people & institutions for life in all areas.
We hear it all across media - "Dabo's really developed an entire CULTURE there at Clemson." Now everyone's parroting the word/idea: "What we're building now at 'A-B-C' University is a complete, all-encompassing CULTURE."
Before Dabo & CU, there wasn't much interest in the holistic approach of "culture." Now, CULTURE has gone viral, but it's got to be REAL to work - so we'll see who's serious & who's just giving it lip service.
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110%er [9685]
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I totally agree. Have noticed that as well.
1
Aug 25, 2019, 6:28 AM
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All of these pretenders will find out that simply printing it on a t-shirt or using it as a hashtag ain’t gonna get it done.
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Legend [16774]
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Don't forget the other two (overused) words...
Aug 25, 2019, 7:03 AM
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'Family' and 'love'.
Note to programs: saying it doesn't make it so...
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All-In [40925]
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SEC Family
Aug 25, 2019, 7:16 AM
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SEC Culture. They are the 14 muskateers, giving each other reach arounds after the SECs big win last night.
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Hall of Famer [20540]
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Re: The big buzzword: Culture
Aug 25, 2019, 7:04 AM
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The main thing they don't understand about it is that it starts with character...both the kind of guys you hire as coaches and recruit as players, and the way Dabo conducts himself personally.
You can use the word "culture" like it's a magic pill or blueprint all day long, but at the end of the day the first and most meaningful ingredient - the "starter yeast", as it were, for everything that follows - is Dabo's own insistence on doing the right thing. Even if it costs him, he is honest. He is up-front with recruits from Minute 1 and does not sugar coat...if he sees you as, say, a DB, as he did with Dak Joyner, he will tell you so even if others are telling you that you're a QB because they know that's what you want to hear. If you're the #2 guy on the recruiting board and he wants someone else more, he will tell you so, as he did with Lyn-J Dixon when we were recruiting Zeus White, and it almost cost us Dixon.
He can also say "no"...talented or not, that kid doesn't fit our culture. That's hard, especially when the kid is right there to be had for the signing, and you know how talented he is even if he is a bit of a bad apple...but he does it. Over and over. Every year you see guys mysteriously drop off Clemson's board for no apparent reason and we've moved on to next with no fanfare and no public proclamation, even if the new guy has three stars (or occasionally none!) and the old guy had four or five.
He puts academic concerns over football. If a kid isn't getting it done in the classroom, he doesn't play. If a kid has pressing academic concerns, he attends to those before he comes to practice or suits up.
He pays his assistants extremely well. Dabo did get his in the end because he was so incredibly successful, but before he did all that he sacrificed a bunch of his own salary up front so he could attract the best assistant coaches...and Oh My, did he ever. From Minute 1 it was obvious the best veteran coaches out there, guys like Dan Brooks, Marion Hobby, and Robbie Caldwell were willing to work for him, and he ended up pulling Venables away from Oklahoma for exactly the same reason.
He plays everybody who deserves to play, even though it means spending September dealing with an awesome pile of Young Guy mistakes. Clemson usually runs like an untuned big-block V-8 in September because of it...rough. Sputtering. But by the playoffs we're roaring past the likes of Notre Dame and even Alabama because of our immense depth too, as other teams are gimping towards the finish line held together by duct tape and Cortisone injections.
He won't risk a kid's health even if it's advantageous to play him. Tre Lamar comes to mind. Lamar had stinger issues - which amounts to tweaks in his spinal column that were causing numbess and tingling - and even though he was medically cleared to play in the playoffs two years ago and definitely could have helped us, Dabo just shook his head and held him. He knew the main thing with stingers was repeated impacts and he knew Lamar needed time to heal up fully. And so...our best run-stuffing LB remained on the bench even in that ugly smash-mouth playoff game against Alabama in 2017-2018 that we ultimately ended up losing. It had to have killed Dabo (you could see it was killing Tre Lamar!)...but it was absolutely the right call. One game was simply not worth the risk of paralyzing a player, even one that important.
All players turn off social media during the season. The only voices they hear during the season are the voices of the coaches...and one another. It works in no small part because Clemson is so isolated, an island in the middle of rural Upstate South Carolina. In a big town or a city it'd be impossible because the hangers-on and media and bloggers would be everywhere. In Clemson they can filter all that out.
That's "culture"...a million small but critical details that end up creating an atmosphere where players, coaches, and staff feel valued, included, and protected, and where doing the right thing is not just expected but demanded. And the terrible secret to Clemson's "culture" is that not only is it not about winning, Clemson wins so many games precisely because the focus is not and never has been about winning.
How on Earth is a newly hired coach somewhere else, who is desperate for wins and results so as to prove his worth to the fan base who must support him, the locker room that has to believe in him, and the AD who can fire him, supposed to replicate that? How many have the personal character to even begin to try? Without being genuine there's no point in even attempting it. This only works if your head guy can also walk the walk or no one will buy it.
Good luck. We caught lightning in a bottle here at Clemson, and we may literally never see this particular convergence of factors again. And replicating what we do here anywhere else is going to be hard...and in a lot of places, it's going to be flat-out impossible.
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Oculus Spirit [90819]
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^ Perfect Words "Q" for a Perfect Storm..
Aug 25, 2019, 8:24 AM
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The Dabo Effect and Clemson's ability to bottle it onsite so to enjoy it for the long haul..
and it's Not 4 Sale!
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CU Guru [1955]
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Re: The big buzzword: Culture
Aug 25, 2019, 9:40 AM
[ in reply to Re: The big buzzword: Culture ] |
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quozzel - you dissected the Dabo/CU "culture" thing with precision and detail.
Excellent!!
Go Tigers!
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All-In [40767]
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CU Medallion [52219]
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You just explained why TDP received an honorary degree
Aug 25, 2019, 10:10 AM
[ in reply to Re: The big buzzword: Culture ] |
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Nice explanation of all the factors involved in creating the culture.
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Scout Team [184]
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Re: The big buzzword: Culture
Aug 25, 2019, 12:18 PM
[ in reply to Re: The big buzzword: Culture ] |
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Q - unbelievable post! Incredibly insightful, as are all your posts. Huge thanks for posting!
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Trainer [35]
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Re: The big buzzword: Culture
Aug 25, 2019, 1:04 PM
[ in reply to Re: The big buzzword: Culture ] |
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Qzel, what a well thought out post. You can be on my team anytime. Regards
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Orange Blooded [3650]
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Re: The big buzzword: Culture
Aug 26, 2019, 3:54 PM
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agreed great post
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All-TigerNet [10824]
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Scout Team [161]
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Re: The big buzzword: Culture
Aug 26, 2019, 3:40 PM
[ in reply to Re: The big buzzword: Culture ] |
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Great analysis. I especially like the untuned big-block V-8 analogy. Few teams perform at the same level week after week. Some get better, some fall apart, some yoyo and are unpredictable. Part of Dabo's genius is that our teams always seem to play their best ball at the end of the year partly, as quozzel points out, because Dabo plays so many guys at the beginning of the year. People (including so-called experts) who try to knock us by saying things like ATM almost beat us last year, don't get that. They don't see the big picture. The little baby Tiger you see at the beginning of the season is not the all-grown-up beast you are going to run into at playoff time.
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110%er [5306]
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Legend [17626]
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CU Guru [1192]
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Legend [15870]
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Re: The big buzzword: Culture
Aug 25, 2019, 11:24 AM
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You and Salty55 hit the bullseye. The words every one uses now are Culture, Family Environment, and love. But parents are pretty smart and can see through the crap many coaches try to hide. With Dabo it is genuine and honest.
Last year I went to hear Tony Elliott and Brandon Streeter speak. They spoke about their relationship with God, then family, education then football. There speeches were honest and from the heart. If I had a kid being recruited by Clemson, we would have committed to the Tigers that night. That’s how the staff prioritizes their goals as Clemson coaches and as people.
This is I believe the best overall staff in college football. Coach Batson is also a man of God with integrity and high moral values. We were friends in HS. So I have known him for many years. He is a devoted family man and loves Clemson. I have meet other coaches at Clemson in passing but in they work for Dabo, that tells me a lot about them. I hope we can keep this staff together. Not every coach is meant to be a HC.
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All-In [36409]
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Unfortunately For The Rest of College Football...Culture
Aug 25, 2019, 2:31 PM
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Is Not Something You Install, Like a 4-3 Defense, it is Something That is Incrementally Built Year Over Year, Class Over Class And Player Over Player. Programs Like Syracuse And a Few Others Are Figuring This Out And Getting Foundations Established.
Programs Like Notre Dumb, USUCK, Bammer and UGA Are Just Culture Posers. I Think LSU Might be on The Path to Culture, Ogeron Has a Distinct Style And May Emerge as The SEC's Top Culture Program.
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Legend [16489]
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The capons have culture - growing in the ice machines at the
Aug 25, 2019, 2:45 PM
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roach.
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CU Guru [1250]
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Every Organization Has A Culture
Aug 25, 2019, 7:57 PM
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whether they want to admit or not.
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110%er [7173]
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What They Stole Most: "ALL IN"
Aug 25, 2019, 8:08 PM
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The phrase they have "bitten" the most is: All In.
It's crazy how many of these preseason interviews I have seen from various coaches who are using it. Dabo didn't come up with it; but did popularize it.
They can talk like him and copy some other things Dabo and the CU staff does like RPO-offense and such. But, if you aren't genuine it will show and who they are will get exposed.
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All-TigerNet [12270]
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"imitation is the greatest form of flattery!"***
Aug 26, 2019, 3:57 PM
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CU Medallion [65370]
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Boy George had a Club about that years ago.
Aug 26, 2019, 7:15 PM
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And, yes, I really did want to hurt him.
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